


Running

by Cactaceae28



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Life on DS9, Sports Metaphors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23375344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cactaceae28/pseuds/Cactaceae28
Summary: On Deep Space Nine, they don't stand. They run.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	Running

Worf watches from the corner of the cell as in a fit of boredom the Chief and the station’s CMO resort to bickering to pass the time. He keeps his silence, feeling once again so out of his depth as to question his decision to keep his commission in a station he can’t quite understand and that is so unlike anything he has ever known before.

On the Enterprise-D, after all, they had been like Odysseus: resisting unmoving the sirens trying to bring them down and emerging on the other side, if not unscathed, at least standing proudly. On the Enterprise-D he would never have been drawn into a petty bar fight over a matter that doesn’t even really concern him; this situation would have been unthinkable. In fact, there is something about this place that defies explanation.

What Worf doesn’t understand is this: On Deep Space Nine, they don't stand. They run.

Sisko runs because it’s in his temperament to run. He used to love it: the thrill of a homerun, the satisfaction of running an errand for his father, speeding through life with Jennifer by his side. Then, there came a time when he ran because to stop would have been to break; when he tried to pretend that if he ran fast enough the shadow of the Saratoga would be left behind. Now, with the Prophets behind and his crew around him, he’s rediscovering the joy of running again.

Kira runs because that is all she had ever known, because existence has always been a race: against the clock, hoping to outlast another day, against the hopelessness which on cold nights crept out like a poison, against the Cardassians because to not stay one step ahead meant death. Now she's learning that she no longer needs to run, but still, for the little girl who was never taught how to stop, she runs.

Bashir runs because there's so much to see, so much to do, and since the first day at the Academy he has accepted that he's living on borrowed time, that any moment could be the one where he crosses over the line and the race ends. One day, he will be caught and he will be called to task for the lie that is the linchpin of his life. So in the meantime, for the little boy who was never allowed to start, he runs.

Dax runs because that is the nature of her existence. This is what she was born to do; it's the reason why she spent years training alone, never looking back, hoping to outdo every competitor for an elusive chance. Now she is one more link in a relay race, one that stretches far behind and far ahead and the whole galaxy is at her fingertips, unfurling in all manner of exciting possibilities, so long as she keeps running.

Miles runs because he can. He spent so much of his early career running towards or away from something that the years on the Enterprise had been a welcome respite, a chance to catch his breath; still, when he arrives at DS9, he soon finds himself running again. Yet here, he is racing against the station, steadily putting it back together and he's building, not destroying. Here he runs because the others run and he can keep up with them any day of the week. So he runs and all the while he keeps looking forward.

Odo doesn't run. In many ways, he’s like a stone in a turbulent pond, creating ripples as the world moves around him rather than the reverse. He is an observer and initially, he seems to stand apart. But the truth is that he, too, is moving. He moves towards understanding, of himself, of others, of the universe. He moves towards creating his own definition of justice, and he stumbles and trips, but he gets closer with every passing day. He learns to hold on to what is important and let go of the rest. In his own way, he _flies_.

And as time goes by... Worf will learn to run as well. He already knows what it is to stand tall, to be the Starfleet officer who holds onto his convictions even if it requires him to put his life on the line. Though he had drifted, untethered, after the loss of the Enterprise, though he had struggled to gather the strength of will to stand again, the time he spends on the station will lead him to remember the boy who didn’t know his own strength and he will learn how to meet him halfway. He will discover a rhythm of his own, and so he too will run.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
